


Flower Crowns

by thenakednymph



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, keith with a flower crown, lance makes flower crowns, that's it that's the fic, they all deserve flowers okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 20:31:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19775866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenakednymph/pseuds/thenakednymph
Summary: Lance weaves Keith a flower crown.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Katnap asked for flower crowns so flower crowns you shall have.

  
  


They make their way to the beach, Lance collecting a wide arrow of flowers and large blooms as he goes, cradling them in his arms. He plucks up a number of leafy bits too for reason Keith can’t comprehend. 

Lance hums, delighted by the assortment of colors and patterns in his arms. They finally emerge from the trees and hit the sand, Lance stopping in the shade with Keith as the others make a run for the waves. 

Keith looks between Lance and the others as he sits down and starts sorting through his collection. 

“I thought you’d have been the first to the water,” Keith says, sinking to the grass. “You love the beach. This was your idea.” 

“I will, I just have something very important to do first,” he says brightly. 

Keith raises an eyebrow. “With...flowers?”

Lance scoffs. “It’s a flower crown you heathen.” He starts weaving the long stemmed lily-like flowers together, interspersing them with something like small roses. His movements are rapid and sure, practiced.

“Do you know how long it’s been since I last saw a flower? Let me enjoy this.” His head snaps up. “Wait, you lived in the desert. When was the last time you saw a flower?” he asks horrified. 

“I don’t know.”

Lance seems more appalled by this than Keith things he has any right to. 

“Oh my god, you poor thing.” He immediately picks up one of the small flowers and shoves it at Keith. “Here.”

Keith is too startled to do anything but take the little bloom from him, staring at it blankly as Lance goes back to weaving the flowers together. It’s no bigger than his thumb, petals curled tightly closed.

Keith watches curiously as the crown takes shape, Lance testing the fit every now and then on his head. He weaves little sprays of yellow flowers like lilac into the crown, the lengths swaying in the hair.

The lily’s have bright orange hearts fading up into deepest purple at the tips of the petals. The yellow brings more attention to their bright cores, small clusters of white flowers between them, filling out the crown. It’s a beautiful, elaborate thing and Keith stares at it in awe. He’s never seen anyone make one before.

Lance fusses until he’s satisfied, the crown dripping with flowers and various grasses and leaves. 

Keith is already starting to sweat and has pulled his hair up into a ponytail. He’s twisting Lance’s flower idly in his fingers, watching the waves. He’s not at all prepared for Lance to reach up and yank his hair tie free a moment later. He taking several strands of hair with it. 

“Hey!” His hair falls loose about his face but he freezes mid-protest as Lance gently places the elaborate crown on his head. He adjusts it until it sits just so, one of the lengths of yellow flowers curling against his cheek, twice as bright against the darkness of his hair.

Lance smiles, carefully pushing a tangle of Keith’s bangs to one side with a finger. He finally nods, satisfied. His grin is blinding. 

“There. Perfect.” Lance surges to his feet not a moment later, stripping out of his shirt and bolting for the waves, leaving Keith to burn in his own embarrassment and racing heart. 

He pouts, reaching up to touch the flowers gently. No one’s ever given him a flower, let alone a crown of them. It feels silly but he’s touched by the gesture. It was...kind. Keith doesn’t have enough of that in his life. He smiles and even as the hair sticks to the back of his neck and makes him sweat he leaves the crown in place. He refuses to be offended or put out by the teasing he takes from Pidge. At the end of the day he takes the crown back to the castle, hanging it in his room as a gentle reminder of what could be.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worlds smallest chapter! But it didn’t want to be with any of the other parts so there you go. More flowers for Keith damn it!

After the flower crown incident, Lance seems to take it upon himself to give Keith as many flowers as he can find. Planet to moon, space mall to alien ship. If he can’t find a flower he makes one. Keith has several made of an array of various materials, some flexible, some rigid. He doesn’t know how Lance manages to do it, but do it he does. They’re not regular, but they are often. Keith doesn’t know what to make of them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look a real chapter.

Lance bows with a flourish, presenting Keith with a small pink flower between his fingers. 

“Pretty flower for a pretty boy,” he says with a wink. His grin is wide and bright, the strange sunlight glittering over the plates of his armor. The air is thick and heavy, clinging to them like spider webs. It shimmers like a mirage around them.

Keith flushes but manages to be petulant about it even as he takes the flower. 

“You’re really fixated on this whole flower thing huh.” He glances at Lance from under his eyebrows. He’s still embarrassed but he’s gotten used to Lance randomly bestowing flowers upon him. It’s been happening for weeks now.

Lance gives another dramatic bow.

“I can’t help it if I want to shower you with things almost as lovely as you.” 

Keith blushes again and Lance circles him, walking his fingers over Keith’s shoulder before wandering away, a skip in his step as he heads for his lion. 

Keith shakes his head but in spite of himself he still smiles, spinning the flower between his fingers. 

When they get back to the castle he puts it with the all the others. The flower crown is dried out and hanging on his wall and he smiles at it, gently reaching out to touch the petals. He’s not sure why he kept it but it feels important. 


	4. Chapter 4

They’re all sitting out on a grassy gnoll, basking in the sunlight at the end of a mission. There’s a gentle breeze, the paladins talking idly. The hill is covered in flowers. Fuschia colored blue-bells dot the grass and when Lance realizes Keith has laid down, closing his eyes, he grins. Keith hasn’t yet learned to be wary of Lance’s flower gifts.

Lance plucks one of the nearest flowers, tucking it into Keith’s hair where it tumbles out behind him. Lance puts a finger to his lips when Hunk catches on to what he’s doing. He used to do this with his siblings all the time but it was usually with grass and to piss them off. Now he’s doing it because it’s pretty, hoping he can get several to stay before Keith realizes what he’s doing. 

Using the breeze for cover and the idle chatter of the others to hopefully keep Keith distracted he carefully slips flower after flower into Keith’s hair. 

Either Keith is actually dozing or Lance is that good because by the time Shiro rouses them, herding them back to the ship Lance has managed to place at least a dozen. He watches with baited breath as Keith sits up. A few of the flowers fall loose as his hair slips forward over his shoulder, falling into his lap. 

“What th- Lance.” Keith scowls, his hair all askew, the flowers striking against their dark background and all Lance can do is laugh.

There’s a soft ping as Pidge snaps a photo and Keith turns on them with a scowl.

They shrug, flipping through the photos to show Keith, making him blush. “You’re the one who fell asleep.” He tries not to find the photo of himself beautiful. He said lying on the ground, seemingly asleep, one hand on his chest. The brilliant pink flowers in his hair look like stars beautiful. Maybe Pidge will send it to him.

Keith shakes the flowers loose from his hair, plucking them out one by one. The ones that don’t fall to the ground he keeps hidden in his hand. 

“He was literally doing that for thirty minutes,” Pidge says flatly. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Speed post, I have angst to share. Gotta get the fluff out of the way. Enjoy!

On their next mission Lance manages to convince one of the aliens to let him take one of the massive baskets of flowers that are everywhere. 

Voltron has managed to arrive in the middle of a celebration of some kind. Flowers are strung on garlands between buildings and over doorways, many of the aliens adorned with flowers and necklaces. Petals seem to fall perpetually through the air. Keith has managed to avoid having to accept any of the garlands thus far but he can’t escape forever.

He doesn’t need to know what the flowers are for to know that somewhere Lance is planning something. He just hasn’t been ambushed with it yet. It’s only a matter of time. They’ve been here for over and hour and so far there have been no gifts from Lance though he’s had plenty of opportunity. The longer it takes for Lance to ambush him the more paranoid Keith gets and Lance knows he’ll miss his opportunity if he doesn’t act quickly. The intent is to catch Keith off-guard.

He manages to stay out of sight long enough to run for the nearby cliff, basket in hand, stalking Keith while he patrols. He lies in wait in the perfect sniper’s nest until the perfect moment, Keith right below him. He flicks a rock and it lands precisely where he intends, Keith whirling towards the noise, bayard out.

Lance upends the basket, spilling its contents. The flowers tumble down through the air in a stream of color, burying Keith in the brilliant blooms. He jumps in surprise as the flowers smack him across the head and shoulders, petals catching in his hair and the collar of his gorget, drenching him. He doesn’t need to hear the raucous laughter above him to know Lance is responsible. 

“Lance!”

The laughter echoes and Keith scowls, dropping out of his defensive posture. He collapses his bayard with an irritated noise and a flash of light, glaring up at the edge of the cliff. Lance is now lying down, arms crossed, staring down at him. His chin is resting on his arms with a brilliant and unapologetic smile. He giggles, cheeks flushed with delight.

“Damn it Lance.” Keith shakes off the petals, picking them out of his hair. 

“Aw.” Lance tips his head, flicking one of the flowers at him. It lands expertly atop Keith’s head, right in his part and Lance grins in triumph. 

“You’re so cute when you’re mad.”

“I hate you,” Keith grinds out. 

Lance just blows him a kiss and bolts.


	6. Chapter 6

Not even Keith’s room is safe from the sudden, random attacks he comes to find. He opens his door one night to find a spotted daffodil resting on his pillow. His head drops and he shakes it, a huff of exasperated laughter slipping out of him as he goes to lift the strange flower. It smells like sea spray and banana and he wrinkles his nose at the combination. It’s unexpected but not terribly unpleasant and Keith studies it closely. He sighs, smiling warmly before he goes to add it to his growing collection. 

He doesn’t understand the strange ritual Lance seems to have taken to but he’s growing rather fond of it. 

Keith leaves the daffodil out to dry, placing it next to the shoe box with all the others, dried and carefully protected.

“Thank you.” 


	7. Chapter 7

“What is going on with the flowers,” Keith mutters to himself. He shakes his head, playing with Lance’s latest gift. This one looks like yarrow but it’s mint green and smells like citrus. 

Pidge picks up their head from where they’re clacking away on their tablet. 

“You haven’t figured that out yet?”

Keith looks between Pidge and the flower. “Was there supposed to be some grand meaning behind Lance giving everyone flowers?”

Pidge frowns at him. They tilt their head and adjust their glasses. 

“He’s not.”

Keith brandishes the flower in his fingers as evidence to the contrary. “Uh, pretty sure he is. Is that just a Lance thing?”

“No I’m pretty sure that’s a  _ you _ thing,” Pidge says flatly. They’d managed to find something like bubblegum and snap it annoyingly in Keith’s direction. 

He blinks in surprise, sitting up. “It is?”

Pidge stares at him. “You can’t tell me you didn’t notice. Not even you can be that dense.” When Keith doesn’t respond Pidge makes an exasperated noise and slaps a hand over their face. 

“Oh my god you’re worse than he is.” They roll their eyes, dismissing Keith before spinning back around, obviously not finished yet. “And let me give you a little hint, just in case you’re actually this dumb; you’re the only one getting flowers. You always were.” They stare at Keith without blinking. 

“And he’s getting discouraged. So you might want to do something about that before I have to watch the two of you pine over one another for another six months or I  _ will _ vomit in your shoes so help me god.”

Keith watches Pidge leave before glancing over at Lance where he’s talking animatedly to Hunk, laughing and gesturing with his hands. 

Keith looks at the flower in his fingers and wonders.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God this is so fucking sappy.

The next chance he gets Keith pockets a flower. It’s some kind of deep purple and lilac lily, the five petals twisting on the ends. They curl and drip down past his fingers, the flower bigger than his palm. 

The core is a soft periwinkle, and the stamen a cerulean that rivals Lance’s eyes. It’s why Keith had picked it. He kicks himself for it now. It was a stupid decision, cheesy, and he flushes.

He takes a deep breath, hopes he isn't making a horrid mistake and knocks sharply on Lance’s door.

“Just a second!” Lance calls out. Keith’s heart hammers and his palms begin to sweat. Maybe this was a bad idea. The flower trembles in his fingers and he swallows dryly. 

“I can do this,” he whispers. “It’s just a flower.” In spite of his pep talk he flinches when the door opens. Lance is standing there, all bright eyes, the expression only widening when he sees Keith standing there.

“Hey Keith.” He lounges in the open doorway. “What’s up?”

“I-I wanted to give you something.” Keith hates the way his voice trembles when he says it.

Lance’s eyes drop to the lily in Keith’s hands as he presents it to him, a box tucked under his arm. Lance’s expression sobers, his eyes turning guarded but he reaches out and takes the flower carefully. The petals tickle over Keith’s fingers as Lance pulls it away, holding it like it’s a ticking time bomb.

“Keith…” he says slowly, carefully, “what does this mean?” He sags against the doorway looking dejected, all his previous energy draining out of him and Keith’s heart sinks. “Cause you’ve kind of been ignoring my advances for months and now…” Lance spins the flower in demonstration, the corner of his mouth pulling down.

Keith actually blushes, ducking his head to hide behind his bangs, fiddling with what looks like a shoe box. 

“No one’s ever given me flowers before.” He shrugs awkwardly, tucking his hair behind his ear. “I thought you were doing that with everyone.” He feels like an idiot even as he says it. He’d never seen Lance give any of the others flowers, just assumed he had.

“I wasn’t.” Something in Lance’s voice makes Keith look up, his stomach twisting. He hopes he isn’t too late. That Lance hasn’t given up on him.

“I know now. I didn’t before.” Without the flower to keep his hands busy Keith twists his fingers together, tugging on his gloves. The box tips precariously and he clutches it instead. 

Lance lifts the flower, holding it between them, spinning it gently. 

“So it means?” He stretches the question carefully, afraid to get his hopes up again, Keith can see it in his eyes.

“I’m a dumbass,” Keith says flatly, his hands falling still.

In spite of himself a smile flickers over Lance’s mouth and he tries not to laugh. He bites his lip to keep it in check, tipping the flower forward to smell it. It smells like lilac and the sea, a combination that makes his stomach flip and reminds him of home.

“Yeah?” he asks and Keith can hear the hope in his voice. Lance looks at him over the flower, his smile hidden behind the petals. Keith was right. It does match his eyes. 

Keith nods. “Yeah. Please don’t stop giving me flowers.” He pinches the seam of his pants, nervous again. “I looked forward to them.” He shrugs, embarrassed by the admission. “To finding where they’d turn up next.”

Lance looks surprised. “You did?”

Keith nods, thumb catching on the edge of the box before slipping away. 

Lance ducks his head to hide a smile again, looking at Keith shly. It’s an expression that makes Keith want to giggle. Lance has no right to look that cute, tucking his hair behind his ear, smile stretching wider.

“That for me too?” He finally nods at the box in Keith’s hand.

Keith blushes. “Sort of.” He extends the box to Lance who looks at it curiously. He tucks the lily behind his ear for safekeeping, the petals bending against his cheek and Keith’s heart swoops. 

Lance looks at Keith suspiciously, like he’s afraid whatever is in the box will bite him before carefully pulling back the lid. 

It takes him a moment to figure out what he’s looking at, head tipping curiously. And then he recognizes the slowly fading yarrow flower, the daffodil with red spots, the little fuschia bluebells. They’re all dried out little husks of their former glory but each one is tucked reverently inside the box. 

There’s the little metal flower Lance had found in a shop at a space mall, an origami one he’d made, one that looked like it had been sculpted out of some kind of jello. He was afraid that one might rot but it sits inside the box perfectly preserved, same as the day Lance had given it to him. 

“I kept them,” Keith says, breaking the silence and stating the obvious. He struggles not to fidget as Lance goes through the box, sorting through the flowers. He recognizes all of them.

He finally looks up, a stunned expression on his face. “Why?”

“Like I said,” Keith says awkwardly. “No one’s ever given me flowers before.” He bites his lip, fingers pressing into his palms. “The crown is in my room.” He doesn’t know why he said that. “I just didn’t know how to bring it without it falling apart.”

“You still have it?” The disbelief in his voice makes Keith laugh.

“Yes Lance, I still have it.” He smiles warmly, some of the tension easing out of him.

Lance shakes his head, confuddled. “Why?”

“Because you gave it to me. Because I wanted them to mean something.” 

Lance couldn’t look more dumbstruck if Keith had slapped him. Laughter and confusion mingle in his eyes.

Amusement touches Keith’s voice. “Why do you look so surprised?”

“You just-” Lance goes to gesture with one hand but doesn’t want to upend the box. He shifts his grip instead, afraid of dropping it. “You always seemed pissed when I did it.” 

Keith winces, his cheeks warming. “I thought you were trying to embarrass me or make fun of me,” he admits, his voice going quiet. “Or that you were just stringing me along.”

Lance scowls. “I wouldn’t do that,” he snaps fiercely but the anger isn’t directed at Keith. “It isn’t funny.” 

The tension eases out of him and Lance carefully tucks everything away, closing the lid of the box. His fingers rest reverently over it. 

“So this all means what exactly?” He seems almost reluctant to let go of the box but finally passes it back. Keith cradles it against his chest.

“If you meant it, if you still mean it…” He glances up at Lance. “I'd really like to ask you out. I know there aren’t a lot of options out here…”

Lance’s eyes sparkle and he finally lets his smile break loose in full force. He reaches up , pulling the flower free and tucks the lily behind Keith’s ear instead of his own. 

“We’ll figure something out.” His knuckles brush deliberately over Keith’s cheek. “You’re clever.”

Keith is disappointed Lance has given him the flower back but he doesn’t pull it out.

“That was for you,” he pouts. 

Lance’s heart squeezes at how adorable that is and he gently tugs on a lock of Keith’s hair, trying to get him to smile again.

His own smile only grows when Keith blushes. “Matches your eyes.”


End file.
